


again and again and -

by orphan_account



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Crossover, Implied Relationships, Multi, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 03:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When Homura first stumbled across the town, she mistook it for a witch's labyrinth.</i>
</p>
<p>
(Night Vale receives an unexpected visitor.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	again and again and -

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired entirely by this [tweet](https://twitter.com/NightValeRadio/status/391298799152295936) and, subsequently, this piece of [fanart](http://bevsi.tumblr.com/post/75206650579/thank-you-for-your-interest-in-a-life-free-of), in addition to working on my Femslash February fic whilst being slightly sleep deprived.

When Homura first stumbled across the town, she mistook it for a witch's labyrinth. It certainly seemed to follow the same, or a similar, internal logic to those little holes in reality. It had certainly been quite a shock to find herself face to face with an incredibly bizarre, yet radiant creature with an unnatura number of eyes. Enough of a shock, in fact, for the colours to drain out from the world as she reflexively activated her unique power. How could she have been so completely off-guard that she had found herself ensnared in a witch's labyrinth completely unprepared. The creature, whose oddity was only exacerbated by the washed-out nature of the world, must be the witch's familiar. She had certainly seen stranger ones, though something about the startled expression (if such a creature could be said to express such an emotion with its permanent smile) on its face made her doubt that conclusion. However, it was all that she could go on and thus had to become her working hypothesis.

The labyrinth itself was on the tamer side of things. It seemed to be a perfectly normal, if slightly empty, desert town. Having grown up in Mitakihara, and most of those years spent in the hospital, she had never personally seen a desert. However, the town was almost cliche in its mimicing of the few pictures she'd seen. Aside from the strange, startled creature, there didn't seem to be any other familiars in her vicinity. It appeared to be entirely affected by her temporal abilities and that, in combination with the fact that her arsenal was painful limited to a few handguns at the moment, resulted in her ultimate decision to simply leave the creature be. All she had to do was defeat the witch to whom this labyrinth belonged and continue on her way.

Though she had never quite been sure how, nor had she thought (or really wanted to) ask Kyubey about it, Homura always knew when she was closing in on the location of the witch. Whether it was a trait shared by all magical girls or simply another of her unique abilities, she was thankful for it now. Most labyrinths were not quite so sprawling as this one. It did seem to be an entire, functioning - aside from its current timelocked state - town. Without that ability, she would undoubtedly have spent an unacceptable amount of time finding nothing at all. If she had gotten lost, however, she doubted that her journey would have been a boring one. Even on her more-or-less linear path she had encountered what appeared to be a pair of malevolent spirits selling produce of some sort, a farm that grew nothing as far as she could tell, a few floating or oddly dismembered animals, and a cloud that somehow managed to convey a very clear irritation at the state of its begonias.

Finally she came to a door, one that bore a purple eye that seemed almost to blink despite the stoppage of time and the words "Night Vale Community Radio." There was a significant presence beyond that door, likely a witch, though it felt much stranger and older than any witch she had come into contact with. Releasing her grip on the sands of time, Homura pushed open to door to find-

"-Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight." The man removed a pair of headphones from his ears and switched the button that presumably controlled the studio light proclaiming "ON AIR" to the off position. He was curiously nondescript. Not tall or short, wide nor skinny, and regardless of how hard she tried Homura could not seem to name the colour of his eyes or his hair. "Ah, Homura Akemi." The man spoke very casually, which served only to put the magical girl on edge. "According to Old Woman Josie, you were the one who startled Erika with time travel."

Despite herself, Homura asked "Erika?"

"All angels prefer the name Erika. Not that they exist."

Homura simply nodded, despite not understanding at all. For a witch, he seemed surprisingly articulate and nonviolent. "I'm... not sure how I got here," she said, blinking in her pause.

"I wouldn't worry about that. No one's sure how anyone got here." He smiled, continuing. "Though I'm sure you are here for a reason."

"I don't see why. I'm supposed to be-." She stopped, unsure as to whether she wanted to reveal her goals to a witch. "I'm supposed to be helping someone. I promised to protect her. She's..." Homura truely could not find a word to adequately describe Madoka Kaname. "...important to me."

The smile returned, much softer around the edges. "I can sympathize," he replied fondly. Homura had never heard a witch speak in this manner. Or at all. She glanced at him again, still as nondescript as ever, but certainly not a witch.

"I need to get back to helping her," Homura said firmly, hoping that somehow this strange man could assist her in leaving this place.

"Of course." He waved her out the door with a casual smile. She nodded curtly and turned on her heel. "Good luck." Her hand stopped on the doorknob at the sound of his voice and she turned back to him.

"Thank you." She returned his smile, though it still conveyed some of her unease. She turned the doorknob, walking through it with the strangest impression that her time - which, ironically, she had so little of - had not been wasted.


End file.
